Republicans Will Hold Majority In Senate After Democrats Take Back The House

The results are in: Republicans will retain their majority in the Senate after the 2018 midterms, and have even increased their presence in Congress after hard-fought races in Indiana, North Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.

As was expected, Republicans still hold majority rule in Senate after the 2018 midterms, according to projections from The New York Times, Washington Post, and more. Thirty-five Senate seats were up for election in the midterms, as well as the controlling party for the 65 seats not on the ballot during this cycle. It was more than likely for the GOP to remain in power; even if there was a 50-50 Senate split, Vice President Mike Pence would cast the tie-breaking vote. So…we know how that would go. At the time that win was called, Republicans had 51 seats, gaining three seats; Democrats had 44. Five seats were up for grabs but likely to go to Republicans, according to CNN.

On election night eve, FiveThirtyEight predicted that Republicans had an 82.2% chance of controlling the Senate, and when it came to a state-by-state seat breakdown, the GOP were thought to have a 52 to 48 advantage over Democrats. They actually weren’t that far off. However, it wasn’t a total loss for Democrats. The party made history today by taking majority of the House of Representatives while losing the Senate. Maybe not the result they hoped for, but still, one for the record books.

Since the United States started directly electing senators in 1914, the House of Representatives has never flipped control to a party without that winning party also gaining seats in the Senate. The Democrats’ House win was remarkable, but going into the Senate race, things weren’t in their favor. Democrats were defending 26 of the 35 seats on the ballot — 10 in states that overwhelmingly elected Donald Trump in 2016.